A Shove in the Right Direction
by feari teiru
Summary: Because sometimes, the adults really don't know what's best for them.
1. Chapter 1

**A Shove in the Right Direction**

**Summary: **Because sometimes, the adults really don't know what's best for them.

**1; **First Day

A small girl with long black hair frowned as she step over the threshold and entered a brightly lit room. Her nose almost immediately crinkled in disgust as her eyes drifted over the obscenely bright paintings and drawings that littered the light yellow walls.

Empty cups of paint, glue, play-doh and other creative items were strewn across the floor haphazardly.

Puzzle pieces, books and blocks were stuffed awkwardly into drawers and shelves.

She shuddered.

_So messy. _

A soft hand shoved her forwards lightly and she felt herself stumbling forwards further into the room. She turned her dark brown eyes towards the person who had pushed her and frowned sadly. The woman in question either didn't notice her frown or simply didn't care, for she had a bright smile on her face and was no longer staring at the little girl.

"Class!" she called and the little girl found herself shrinking back into the strange woman as at least twenty pairs of eyes zoned in on her.

_So creepy. _

"Yes Sensei?" the class chorused dutifully, all still staring at the strange black haired girl who was doing her best to hide behind their teachers skirt.

"We have a new student today," the teacher smiled and the little girl couldn't help but wish she remembered her name.

Almost immediately the class began "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" and standing up from their small chairs to get a better glimpse at their new arrival.

The teacher took a step to the side and the girl squeaked in fright, realising that her shield had suddenly vanished and there was nothing to hide her from the intrigued stares of the boys and girls before her.

"Now, now, don't be shy," the teacher smiled that megawatt smile of hers, "introduce yourself dear."

The girl shook her head.

The teachers smiled faltered, just a little bit, though none of the children noticed.

"Come on now, don't you want to make friends?"

The girl shook her head, a bit more firmly this time.

The teacher sighed and shook her head, her smile dropping noticeably this time.

"Fine! I'll do it for you!"

The girl nodded.

"Class, this is Mai Kurosaki. Please take care of her."

"Yes Sensei!" the class sung and, once again, Mai found herself being pushed forward by her new teacher.

"You can sit next to Kuromi-kun," the teacher said kindly, directing Mai towards a table with three people seated at it already.

There was only one empty seat and Mai glanced nervously at the boy who sat next to it. For some reason, he was the only child in the class who wasn't staring at her. Instead he was staring fixatedly at a spot outside of the window, with a faraway look in his eyes.

Their teacher wrapped the table with her knuckles and the Kuromi boy jumped in fright before nervously turning around to face his teacher, a sheepish grin on his chubby face.

"Sorry Sensei!" he laughed, scratching the back of his auburn coloured hair, "the little blu-"

The teacher cut him off almost immediately, "please pay attention Kuromi-kun," she sighed, more than used to the little boy's active imagination, "I'm leaving Mai-chan in your care for today, ok?"

The boys grey eyes lit up in delight as he turned to face the girl who had quietly slid into the seat next to him and he regarded with a strange expression, as if this were the first time he'd actually noticed her presence.

She recoiled backwards as his lips spread into an easy grin, showing off two gaps in his mouth where his front teeth should have been.

"Kuromi Inoue," he yelled loudly and stuck out his hand.

Mai regarded it uneasily, partly because the boy scared her and partly because his fingers looked horribly sticky.

Kuromi seemed unfazed by Mai's lack of response and only widened his grin. With speed Mai didn't know was possible, he plucked her hand out of her lap and grasped it firmly.

Ignoring the way her eyes widened and her mouth fell open in a soundless scream he shook it and continued on speaking,

"Nice to meet ya!"

Mai whimpered.

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Ichigo Kurosaki impatiently tapped his fingers on the wooden desk before him as he waited for his laptop to boot up. Around him he could hear people bustling about and murmuring in barely hushed tones and he felt his eyebrow begin twitching.

After having spent the last three years with his own personal and _quiet _office, being moved suddenly to an open floor plan office was understandably hard for him to adjust to.

He had to remind himself every five minutes or so that the annoying man at the desk next to him had every right to conduct his -noisy- phone call at his desk and yelling at him to the "shut the hell up or go outside!" probably wouldn't go down well.

Especially if he considered the fact that he was still new to the company. Whilst he was fairly certain he wouldn't get fired if he blew up at one of his new co-workers, he didn't particularly fancy getting on their bad sides so soon after joining the company.

That could come later, when he inevitably lost his patience.

Much to his delight his laptop pinged into life and he was greeted with his desktop wallpaper. Almost immediately his scowl faded and was replaced with an almost imperceptible smile.

A tiny girl with long black hair pulled into a plaited ponytail dominated the screen, grinning brightly as she stared up at the camera.

His bad mood gone, he clicked onto his email icon and watched as the page lit up and began to flood with new messages.

He narrowed his eyes as he caught sight of an email with a bright red exclamation mark next to it. Feeling a horribly familiar feeling of dread mixed with annoyance, he double clicked the email and read it quickly.

His resulting groan attracted the attention of his co-workers surrounding him, but he did not notice as he quickly shut his laptop and dragged himself out of his chair and out of their spacious office.

Quizzical eyes followed him as he stormed out of the office and into the corridor and as soon as he was out of earshot, the whispers began.

Ichigo however, was blissfully unaware of the rumours that were being spread about him as he trudged towards the office of the one man he didn't particularly want to see.

He didn't _hate _Byakuya Kuchiki exactly, he just wasn't overly fond of them stoic man, and Ichigo had always gotten the feeling that Byakuya thought the same about him. However, as Ichigo had befriended his only sister during their teens, and the friendship had lasted for almost twenty years now, Ichigo had gotten used to having Byakuya being a part of his life.

That didn't mean he had to like the man though, and for the most part, he avoided him with ease.

However, as of late, he had found himself requiring Byakuya's aid.

It had taken a lot of effort to convince him to go to Byakuya for help, but he had been convinced in the end, and although it had been a blow to his pride he knew he had made the best choice.

Well, that's what he tried to tell himself.

He walked towards Byakuya's office and found himself wondering what the old fashioned man wanted with him.

He half heartedly wondering if he was calling him to into gloat about Ichigo needed his aid, but he immediately dismissed the idea.

Byakuya was an honourable man - as much as Ichigo didn't want to admit it.

"Well, I suppose I'll find out now," he mumbled to himself as he knocked loudly on a door that read, KUCHIKI. B.

There was silence for a few moments and Ichigo began to twitch in premature annoyance.

_How long is he going to make me wait_?

He knocked twice more, louder this time, his patience ebbing away with each passing second.

Not soon enough, he finally heard Byakuya's voice beckoning him into his office, and it took every ounce of his self restraint not to burst in cursing.

_He's your boss now…remember that._

Byakuya looked the same as always. His long black hair, pulled into the strange hair style, his sharp black suit was immaculate.

He was the definition of perfection, and he always made Ichigo feel uncomfortable.

Even now he couldn't help but smooth out his not entirely inexpensive suit as he stared at Byakuya.

"Ah, Ichigo, take a seat," Byakuya said politely as he lowered himself down into his large leather seat. Ichigo hesitated before seating himself down in the notably less plush chair that had been set out for any visitors Byakuya had.

The two sat in silence for a few moments before Byakuya spoke,

"It is nice to have you in Karakura once again," he said, "your presence has been missed these past few years."

Ichigo grunted in response, not sure how honest Byakuya's words really were.

"Rukia was extremely pleased to hear you'd be returning. I do wish it had been under happier circumstances,"

Ichigo stiffened. Since his return to Karakura he'd had to endure this conversation several times and it had yet to get any easier.

"my condolences," Byakuya finished, his voice taking a soft turn, "I know better than most what you're going through right now."

Once again, Ichigo simply nodded.

Sensing that the subject was a still clearly something Ichigo didn't want to discuss, Byakuya switched topics.

He'd promised his sister he'd make an effort not to aggravate her orange haired friend anymore than necessary, and, considering the circumstances, he was inclined to do as she said.

"How is Mai?"

Ichigo frowned, clearly shocked that Byakuya would bring up his daughter, "s-she's fine."

"How is she handling…the loss?"

"She'll pull through. She's a brave girl," Ichigo replied curtly, trying to indicate to Byakuya that the conversation needed to take a different turn quickly.

Byakuya apparently got the message as he coughed and quickly picked up a pile of papers from his desk.

"Well, I just wanted to ensure you'd settled in and to hand you your first assignment," he slid the papers down the middle of his desk and Ichigo picked it up gingerly. It was fairly thick.

He raised an eyebrow as he glanced back up at Byakuya.

"There are three manuscripts in there, read them all over by Saturday night and inform me if you think any of them are worthy of publication."

Ichigo nodded, albeit rather reluctantly.

Byakuya seemed to sense his apprehension and smirked, "I understand you're probably used to more _high end_, work but as I told you in our emails, this is the only job I can offer you right now that suits your current needs."

"It's fine," Ichigo grumbled as he flicked through the manuscripts, "you've, ah," a faint blush appeared on his cheeks that would probably have been unnoticeable to anyone who didn't know him all that well.

However, Byakuya was fairly familiar with the man and noticed the blush immediately.

"You've really helped me out with this job, so thanks," Ichigo muttered gruffly.

"Speak no more of it," Byakuya said quietly, "you may go."

Ichigo nodded once before picking up his new assignment and exiting Byakuya's office.

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.

.

Orihime Inoue smiled as she waved a satisfied customer out of the small shop. The bell tinkled as the elderly woman left the store, clutching her freshly arranged bouquet of flowers.

She hummed lightly to herself as she wiped the countertop quickly and then disappeared into the back, careful to leave the door open so she could hear if any customers entered the store.

She walked with an easy familiarity to the back room where she could hear laughter and mumbled conversation.

"I finished Sachi-san's weekly display," she called as she approached the room and pushed the door open to find three of her colleagues seated around a large table. Flowers, leaves, stems, and ribbons were strewn all over the place.

"That was quick," a small, soft spoken woman with black hair pulled into two pigtails noted, glancing at the clock that hung over the wall opposite her, "did she like it?"

Orihime nodded, pulling her hair behind her shoulder as she sat down at the table and absentmindedly picked up a lone tulip, "it's her wedding anniversary this weekend so I added some chrysanthemums and carnations into her usual display. She seemed very pleased."

"Sounds pretty," a woman with short bright pink hair pulled into three buns who was currently spinning two lilies between her fingers commented. In front of her stood a brightly coloured bouquet of flowers that seemed to pop to life.

Orihime smiled, "thank you Lily."

"Yeah, yeah, now you're here, wanna help out?" the sole male at the table leant forwards onto the table a fixed Orihime with a glare. Orihime simply laughed, she was more than used to Tsubaki's brash personality now and had learnt not to take his glares to heart.

"What are you making?"

"Kuchiki-san came in earlier,"

Orihime sat up in her seat, the Kuchiki Family were an extremely prestigious and rich family that lived in Karakura. They owned several businesses in the area, but as far as she was aware they made most of their profit from a successful publishing house they ran just outside of Karakura.

They'd used their quaint little flower shop a few times in the last few years, mainly when they'd been hosting events or personal parties and needed decoration for their halls.

They were an extremely valuable client and paid well.

"Are they hosting another event?" she asked anxiously. Although she valued the Kuchiki family as clients, she couldn't help but grimace as she remembered just how much overtime they'd all had to do when they had received their last commission from them. They were only a small flower shop after all, with only seven employees.

"Thank God, _no_," the black haired woman, Ayame, put in, a look of distress on her face as she remembered the last time.

Orihime exhaled in relief before turning back to Tsubaki,

"A family friend is ill and they want flowers to bring him this weekend."

"Oh no," Orihime gasped feeling sympathetic, "just the one bouquet?"

Tsubaki shrugged, "she kinda gave us free reign. Guess she trusts our decisions."

Orihime leaned back into her seat and crossed her arms thoughtfully.

"Not more than three," she murmured slowly, "any more than that and I suppose it becomes overbearing for the ill person," she hummed to herself as she thought of the various arrangements she and her team could create, "let me think about it overnight," she said finally, "four days should be enough time I think."

"Nothing _too _over the top please, Hime," Lily said warningly as she watched Orihime's eyes light up as she thought about the possible arrangements, "we have other orders due in for Saturday to think of as well."

Orihime laughed sheepishly.

She had a tendency to go over the top with her flower arrangements, especially if she really put her mind to it.

She had always loved arts and crafts as a child and as she grew older she came across the craft of flower arranging. At first it had been nothing but a simple hobby, something to pass the time when she was bored. Just by coincidence one day, a man at the office she was working in noticed her arrangement she had brought in to decorate the dreary room and wanted to know where she had bought it from.

Flustered, she explained to him that she hadn't bought it, she had created it herself. The man praised her skills and asked if she wouldn't mind created a bouquet or two for his upcoming wedding.

She had obliged, and after the wedding she was soon flooded with orders. People were offering money for the things she created in her spare time!

It was an amazing feeling and Orihime soon realised that she was in the wrong field of work.

It took a fair amount of work, but soon Orihime was leaving her dull office life and moving towards bigger and brighter things.

She smiled even now as she remembered the day, seven years ago, when she had finally opened her little flower shop to the public.

She had cried that day as she unlocked the door to _Shun Shun Rikka_, and announced to the world that she was open for business.

Her employees had trickled in slowly after that.

Surprisingly, Tsubaki was her first employee. The boy lived a few apartments down from her with his mother and at the age of 16 had needed a part time job. She had hesitated giving him a job, knowing that the small family needed it and Tsubaki had flourished in the store.

It was surprising that such a head strong and rough boy had an affinity for flower arranging, and seven years later he was still there.

"It'll be a simple arrangement," Orihime assured her team, "simple but sweet."

"Just like you!" Ayame cooed, turning her attention back to her arrangement before her.

Orihime blushed, but said nothing, instead turning to glance at the clock. Both Lily and Tsubaki watched her eyes trail to the clock.

"What time do you have to leave?"

"Three," Orihime said softly, frowning slightly. The store didn't close till six and even then they didn't leave till seven at the very least.

"I won't be gone for long," she assured her team quickly, "I'll just pick him up and bring him back here!"

Ayame and Lily exchanged long suffering looks, whilst Tsubaki just snorted and glared at his boss.

"Orihime," Lily huffed, as she plucked a bright pink flower from her arrangement and tossed it to the table, "we've been working here a long time you know?"

"I know…"

"So, you don't need to watch our every move anymore. We can close up, God knows how early you get here in the morning after all."

"Oh but-"

"Tch," Tsubaki sniffed, "go spend time with your son, silly woman. He spends as much time as we do here and he's only four."

"He's five!" Orihime said sharply, "you were at his party just last month Tsubaki!"

Tsubaki waved an airy hand before continuing, "five, four, whatever. My point is that he spends a hell of a lot of time in this damn shop."

"What's wrong with the shop?"

"Nothing! Nothing," Ayame said quickly, noticing the way Orihime was frowning uncharacteristically at Tsubaki, "all Tsubaki is saying is that perhaps, Kuromi-kun would like to spend some quality time alone with just you after school once in a while?"

"Yeah, it doesn't have to be every day, just once or twice a week, take him home and chill with him," Lily put in, nodding wisely.

Orihime nodded slowly, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. She knew they were right. Since he'd started school a year ago, she'd been leaving the store at three to pick him up and then would buy him a snack and bring him back to the store. Kuromi would sit in the backroom, reading, or playing, or helping the others with their arrangements whilst she went about her business.

She'd never really thought anything bad about it before, but perhaps bringing her son to work every day wasn't healthy.

Kuromi didn't seem to mind. He loved her team, and they in turn loved him. They were like an extended family to both of them now, but it occurred to them, that Kuromi probably didn't know what was best for him right now.

He was only five after all.

Sighing heavily, Orihime smiled weakly at her friends, "ok, you're right. I'll take him straight home tonight."

Tsubaki smirked.

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.

Mai clenched her fists as the talkative boy next to her prodded her shoulder with a crayon.

"Mai? Mai? Mai-chan? Mai? Mai-chan? Mai? Mai-chaaaaaan?"

She whipped her head around and glared at him.

"Whatcha drawing?" Kuromi asked, seemingly oblivious to her glare. Without waiting for an answer he snatched her paper from out of her hands and stuck it in front of his face to inspect it closer.

"Woaaaah, it's pretty!" Kuromi cheered, staring at the colourful piece in front of him, "what is it?"

Mai continued to glare and stuck her hand out, demanding he give it back.

He cocked his head to the side in confusion, "you don't talk much do ya Mai?"

She bit her bottom lip and shook her head.

"Why?"

She shrugged. She didn't need to explain herself to the strange boy who seemed to have no concept of personal space.

Kuromi shrugged and grinned, "I wanna know what you sound like though! Do you have a lisp?" he stuck his tongue through the gap in his teeth when he said the word lisp and Mai recoiled backwards as flecks of his spit landed on her face.

"Is your voice deep?"

She shook her head and Kuromi blew a raspberry in defeat.

"You're weird Mai. Hey!" he suddenly yelped, as if he hadn't just insulted the quiet girl next to him, "do you mind me calling you Mai? Or should I call you Mai-chan? Or Mai-sama? Maybe just Kurosaki-chan? Mummy always says you have to be polite and I forgot to ask you! Ha! How rude!"

Mai grimaced as he spoke.

How on Earth was he so energetic? The day was almost over and the rest of the children in their class were obviously tired and itching to go home and nap. Kuromi on the other hand was bouncing about as if he'd just been given a can of cola.

She also wondered why he considered not giving her an honorific as being rude, but had spent the whole day prodding and poking and yelling at her. Was that not rude in his mind?

"Sooooooooo?" he whistled, prodding her with his crayon again, "what do I call you?"

Sensing that he wasn't going to leave her alone without an answer, she opened her mouth and whispered.

"Mai."

Kuromi smiled. Not the huge cheesy grin he'd been throwing her all day. A genuine smile.

It startled her.

"I like your voice Mai," he said honestly, still smiling, "talk more!"

The shrill sound of the bell ringing interrupted their rather one sided conversation, and Kuromi suddenly whooped with joy.

Mai watched in amazement as the boy jumped from his seat and stretched like a cat.

"Home time, home time! _It. Is. Home. Time!" _he sung as he roughly chucked his paper and pens inside the tray with his name on it.

"Kuromi-kun, walk slowly and calm down!" Ochi-sensei huffed. Mai had finally been able to remember her name.

"Sorry Sensei!" Kuromi hollered, not calming down in the slightest, instead he grabbed Mai's hand, having noticed that the small girl had yet to make a move to get out of her seat.

"C'mon Mai, didn't you hear the bell?"

Without waiting for her to say or do anything that would entail a response from the small girl, he yanked her up from her seat and dragged her towards the cloakroom.

She cried out in shock as the slightly taller boy pulled her away. She noticed their other classmates staring at them strangely and a few even stepped out of the way.

Perhaps they were all used to Kuromi's bulldozer like behaviour at the end of the day.

Only once Kuromi and herself were safely out of the way did the rest of their class start to slowly file out behind them into the cloakroom.

Kuromi unhooked a bright red jacket from his hook and stuffed his arms through the holes. It dwarfed him entirely, being a few sizes too big. He grinned at her once he noticed her staring.

"This was my favourite one in the store," he explained, "but they didn't have my size, so I begged Mummy to let me get it anyway!"

Mai nodded in understanding, unhooking her own fitted purple jacket from her hook. She spent a few minutes slipping her arms into the jacket and buttoning it up and by the time she had finished, the other children had ran into the cloakroom, gotten their jackets and had left, paying almost no attention to her.

So, she was understandably shocked when she finished the final button on her jacket and looked up to find Kuromi leaning against the wall patiently waiting for her. He was watching her with an intrigued expression on his face that made her feel rather uneasy.

Coughing quietly, she picked up her lunchbox and walked towards the exit. Kuromi followed.

"You took _ageeeees_ Mai," Kuromi grumbled, "Mummy's gonna think I got in trouble again! Where'd you get your lunchbox from? It's so cool!"

Mai exhaled deeply and frowned at him. He was always switching topics so fast, she wasn't sure she could keep up.

Understanding that she wasn't going to answer, Kuromi plucked her lunchbox from her hands and inspected it closely.

"I love Chappy!" he said cheerfully, "Tsubaki-kun says it's for girls but I think a rabbit can be for everybody, don't you think?"

Mai shrugged. She wasn't particularly fond of the Chappy cartoons and comics, but her aunt had given her the lunchbox as a present a few Christmases ago and it would've been impolite not to use it.

The pair exited the building and stepped out into the spacious playground that was now full of parents waiting to collect their children.

Almost immediately, Kuromi whooped with joy and thrust the lunchbox back into Mai's arms, "there's my Mummy!" he yelled, "see ya tomorrow Mai! Ooh, I'll bring my Chappy comics so we can read them at break! Bye!"

And then he was gone. Dashing off like a bullet across the playground. Mai watched with interest as the boy wrapped his arms around the hips of a tall woman with long auburn hair. She swung him around briefly before the two made their way out of the playground.

Kuromi glanced around just before they exited and waved wildly at Mai, who still stood on the steps watching them intently.

"BYE MAI!" he bellowed.

Without even realising what she was doing, she raised a hand and wiggled her fingers, "bye, bye," she whispered.

Once they were gone, Mai dropped her hand and stepped down from the steps and began to survey the area for her own parent.

She didn't have to look very far.

Her father was stood amongst the group of parents who still had to collect their children. He was staring at her with a warm smirk on his face.

For the first time all day, Mai's face split into large grin as she ran across the playground and hugged his thigh tightly.

Ichigo rubbed her head fondly and with ease lifted her up into his arms.

"Hey Mai," he said quietly as his daughter wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled into it, "did you have a good first day?"

She shrugged.

It had been a weird first day.

Ichigo nodded and began walking towards the exit, "did you make any friends?" he asked hopefully.

She didn't answer straight away, as she considered his question.

"I…" she swallowed, "I think so."

Ichigo smiled.

"Good girl."

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* * *

**A/N:**

_*NO I HAVEN'T ABANDONED SLAVE TO HIS PASSIONS, CHAPTER 3 IS CURRENTLY ABOUT 3000 WORDS IN AND ITS BEEN THAT WAY FOR ABOUT A YEAR NOW UGHHHHHHH, SORRY* _

Anyway, I've been on a Daddy Ichigo kick for a while now, and can't seem to find many stories and this idea popped into my head. I hope you enjoy it, I enjoy writing Ichigo as a father _and _Orihime as a mother. I've also fallen in love with Kuromi, such a cutie.

Please review!

xoxo


	2. Chapter 2

**A Shove in the Right Direction**

**Summary: **Because sometimes, the adults really don't know what's best for them.

**2; **First Meetings

Orihime smiled easily as she watched her five year old son eagerly attack the jam sandwich she had set out in front of him.

In seconds, one half of the sandwich had been devoured and Kuromi sported the sticky dark red substance all over the lower half of his face.

He never ceased to amaze her with how messy he was. Whilst she wasn't the most delicate person around when eating a meal she truly enjoyed, she still managed to get most it in her mouth as opposed to decorating her face with it like Kuromi seemed fond of.

"Slow down Kuromi," she chastised gently as his chubby fingers hit his plate, reaching for his final half. Kuromi simply nodded and slowed down a _tiny, _barely noticeable, bit as his fingers wrapped around the sandwich and he stuffed it in his mouth.

Orihime watched in amusement as he chewed and swallowed and then grinned widely up at her. Silently, she handed him several pieces of kitchen towel and he quickly wiped his face and then licked his fingers clean.

"Yum!" he sang happily, pushing his now empty plate into the centre of the table, "how come we didn't go to the store today?" he asked, cocking his head quizzically.

"I thought we could spend some quality time together," Orihime answered, "or do you not want to spend time with your mummy?" she feigned a look of hurt and clutched dramatically at her heart. Almost immediately, Kuromi screeched and scrambled off his seat to move to her own.

"I love spending time with you," he huffed, realising that she had just been joking. Quickly, he clambered up onto her lap and settled himself there.

"You're getting heavy," Orihime noted, jiggling her legs up and down to bounce him, "soon you'll be so heavy, you'll break me."

Kuromi shook his head, looking horrified at the idea of breaking her, "we can just swap!" he said cheerfully, as if that solved all their problems.

Orihime smiled and leant forward, nuzzling his hair with her nose. He was a complete "Mummy's Boy", understandably. With no father figure in his life, it was understandable that he had latched onto her wholly. His world seemed to revolve around her and her alone, as did her own. Everything she did was for Kuromi, he was her little Angel.

No matter how many reports she got home from his teachers at school likening her son to a Tasmanian Devil.

As she thought of school, a thought occurred to her and she raised her eyebrows inquisitively.

"How was school today?" she asked with interest.

Although she couldn't see his face because he was sitting facing forwards on her lap, she immediately felt the way he began to involuntarily bounce on her lap and she knew he had a large grin on his face.

"It was _great!"_

Orihime's eyebrows disappeared into her hair. This was new. Whilst Kuromi was an energetic and extremely friendly child, for some reason he seemed to have difficulty making friends. He enjoyed school and learning, but Orihime had noticed that he never seemed to get any invites to parties or play dates that she saw other children in the playground receiving, and it had bothered her for a while.

Usually when she asked him how was school he would simply shrug and say it was alright before moving onto something else that would inevitably distract her attention away from the school issue.

"What was so great about it?"

"We got a new girl today and she is so weird!" he explained, still smiling, "but good weird. You know she doesn't talk?"

Orihime frowned, "she doesn't talk?"

"Nope!" he shook his head, "well she told me what I should call her, but that's about it."

"Why doesn't she talk?" Orihime was intrigued now.

"I don't know. I thought maybe she was shy but I'm not sure. She seemed scared."

"Well, it was her first day in a new school, I'm pretty sure most little girls would be scared. Maybe she'll talk more tomorrow?"

"I hope so," Kuromi agreed, nodding his head, "I'm gonna bring my Chappy comics, she has a Chappy lunchbox you know?"

Orihime rolled her head backwards to lean against the back of her chair as Kuromi inevitably diverted from the subject of the girl at school to talking about his favourite cartoon rabbit. She never did quite understand the obsession he had with it.

As Kuromi rattled on at a hundred words per second, Orihime couldn't help but smile.

Kuromi had never really admitted to her that he was unhappy at school, but she had always suspected that he didn't enjoy as much as he probably should have.

The idea of him finally having a special friend was heart warming.

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.

.

Ichigo watched his daughter carefully bite into her ham sandwich and take a sip of the apple juice he had made her. After five years of life, he was still in awe over how delicate she was. Sometimes, he felt like he couldn't trust his own strength when she was around, she was such a small wiry thing after all.

Her gaze left her plate and drifted upwards to meet her fathers, as if she sensed she was being carefully observed. She furrowed her eyebrows and cocked her head to the side,

"Daddy?"

Ichigo shook his head in response, "nothing, sorry."

Still frowning, Mai nodded and returned her attention back to her sandwich.

The silence around them became so thick, Ichigo thought it was almost tangible. Almost as if he were mimicking his daughter, Ichigo also frowned as he leant back on his chair.

It wasn't getting any easier.

Since his wife's passing, his job as a parent had doubled. He was in charge of making the money, getting Mai to school, picking her up, making sure her clothes were clean, making sure she'd eaten, taking her to clubs, the list was endless.

He wasn't sure how his father had managed to raise three children by himself and do such a good job of it, since Ichigo felt that he was drowning in the stress of it all.

Just last week he had completely forgotten that Mai had an appointment with the dentist and he had awoken to several angry calls from the receptionist telling him rebooking it would be impossible for at least two months.

Even yesterday, he had forgotten that she would need a uniform for school and they had had to rush out in the late afternoon, praying that the stores would still be open.

It just seemed like whenever he felt he was making strides as a competent single parent, he would forget something important and take three large steps backwards.

His few close friends and family told him he was doing a great job given the circumstances, but as he stared at his daughters face he couldn't help but think they were wrong.

The accident had happened just over a year ago and still Mai wore the same glum look on her face and rarely spoke.

If he was doing such a good job, why wasn't he staring across the table at Mai's giggling face? Why was the sound of her genuine laughter a rarity in their house nowadays? Why did he feel like he was failing her?

Deciding that brooding about the situation wasn't going to improve it in anyway, he cleared his throat,

"So, why don't you tell me about school today?" he asked gently in the voice he reserved solely for his daughter, "you said you made a friend?"

Mai finished chewing her sandwich, but nodded.

"Tell me about her."

She shook her head, "him," she said quietly after she swallowed, "Kuromi-kun is a him."

Ichigo's eyebrows raised and he quickly squashed the urge to pummel the boy who dared lay hands on his precious daughter after reminding himself that they were only five years old after all. Still, saying that, he dreaded to think about the type of boys her teenage years would bring. He was sure he wasn't ready for that kind of stress yet.

"What's he like?"

Mai shrugged, "he's weird."

Laughing a little, Ichigo asked, "how?"

She shrugged once again, "very loud."

Ichigo nodded in understanding. Even before the accident, Mai had been a fairly quiet and shy child. She had never taken very well to loud boisterous people, thus Ichigo was reasonably surprised to learn that she had befriended a loud boy so quickly after starting at a new school.

"He likes Chappy," Mai offered up suddenly, her face contorting into a grimace that Ichigo found himself copying.

"Aunt Rukia would love him," he sighed, grateful that his daughter wasn't obsessed over that damn cartoon rabbit, "we have got to get you a new lunchbox one of these days," he added, remembering the Chappy lunchbox she had brought to school that day because he had forgotten to buy her another one.

Mai nodded firmly in agreement. She then picked up her cup and downed it before licking her lips.

"Finished," she announced.

Ichigo nodded and watched as she climbed down from her seat, "what do you want to do now?"

"Nap."

He nodded once more, "I'll wake you up in an hour, ok?"

"Ok, Daddy," she gave him a small smile that quickly faded before she scampered off to her bedroom.

The sound of her bedroom door clicking shut made him groan and sink lower in his seat.

It had to get easier.

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.

.

Ichigo inhaled deeply as he tried his best to drown out the sounds of his colleagues bustling noisily around him. His temper was hanging on a very fine precipice and he knew it wouldn't take much more for him to finally snap.

The previous night had been straining, after her nap Mai hadn't done much except draw in her notepad, watch a little TV, eat dinner and then go to bed, barely exchanging more than a few words to him. He knew his daughter loved him, but it was very difficult to get through to her when she was seemingly refusing him access into her heart.

Stressing about his daughter had left him tossing and turning for the majority of the night, leaving him in an even worse mood in the morning.

It didn't help that there had been a lot of traffic, meaning Mai had been five minutes late for school and he had been fifteen minutes late for work.

Groaning, he ran his hands through his hair, the day was not getting off to a good start. It wasn't until he groaned that he realised he could actually hear himself groaning.

Frowning, he peered around the office space and noticed that everyone was silently getting on with their work. A few of them were peering at him suspiciously, but they quickly dropped their gaze when he glared at them, making it apparent that he knew that were staring.

Wondering what had happened to make his usually noisy co-workers so silent, he turned his head and glanced at the entrance to their office space.

What he saw made his groan even louder.

Rukia Kuchiki stood leant against the door frame, a haughty grin on her face.

"Ichigo," she called across the room, "come with me please!"

Grumbling, Ichigo pushed himself away from his desk and stalked towards the exit.

"Damn midget."

Rukia laughed.

Only when they left, did the office come to life once again. And the gossiping began.

.

.

"What do you want Rukia?" Ichigo asked finally when Rukia led him into her office on the top floor, "I'm busy you know?"

"Ah yes, you looked so busy glaring at your colleagues, sorry to interrupt," Rukia replied sarcastically, settling herself down into her seat.

"Hilarious."

"I know I am," she quipped before waving her hands towards the empty seat in front of her desk, "sit down! Or do you plan to stand all day?"

Scowling at his childhood friend, Ichigo threw himself into the seat, "what do you want?"

"Can't a friend check up on another friend these days without being interrogated?" Rukia asked, her eyes widening in mock hurt.

"Not you. You only "check up" on me when you want to be annoying."

"We haven't very different interpretations of annoying, Ichigo."

"I'm aware."

The pair sat glaring at each other for a few long moments before Ichigo eventually sighed and shook his head. Taking that as a sign that she had just one that particular staring competition, Rukia smiled broadly.

"So, how's the job treating you?" she enquired, "I was supposed to come and see you yesterday, but I got held up."

Ichigo shrugged, "it's ok. I haven't had to do anything like this since the few years after university, but, I've got to pay the bills right?"

Rukia winced.

It was no secret that Ichigo was a high flyer at the company he worked for in Tokyo, coming back to Karakura and being forced into such a menial job was probably driving him insane. Noticing her wince, Ichigo quickly waved an airy hand in the air,

"But it's good, don't get me wrong. The hours are just what I need right now and I suppose it takes my mind off other things."

"I saw Yuzu last night in the supermarket," Rukia said suddenly, "she said you finally got Mai enrolled in a school?"

Ichigo nodded sheepishly. Since moving back to Karakura nearly two months ago, getting Mai enrolled at a school had, regrettably, not been at the top of his to do list. He hadn't minded having the small girl toddle around behind him everywhere, but pretty soon people began nagging at him the fact that she really needed to return to school.

"Did she like it?"

"I think so, she made a friend. He likes Chappy."

Rukia's eyes lit up and she slammed her fist into her open palm happily, "I knew she had good choice in friends!"

Secretly, she had been worried that her God Daughter would have difficulty making friends at her new school. Since her mother passed, Mai had become even more introverted than before, so she was glad that on only her first day she had made a friend.

Ichigo shrugged, he had yet to meet the boy and he wasn't particularly keen on doing so. He'd never been very good with kids that were not Mai, he found he just didn't have the patience for them. But, he reasoned, if Mai was willing to try and make friends, then so would he.

"Anyway, the real reason I wanted to speak to you," Rukia said quickly, glancing at the clock on her wall and realising she needed to head off soon, "you remembered Jushiro Ukitake right?"

Ichigo nodded immediately, the man had been his favourite lecturer at university and was an old friend of the Kuchiki family, "what about him?!

Rukia sighed sadly, "he's ill. Very ill, the doctors say he doesn't have much time left, but he's remaining optimistic, you know how he is."

"Yeah," even back in their university days, Jushiro never seemed to be perfectly healthy. Ichigo remembered that he always had a chesty cough, but he never took any days off work.

"Well, myself and Renji are going to visit him on Saturday, bring him a few flowers and try and help him take his mind off his situation. He knows you're back in town and I'm sure he'd be really happy to see you, you were his favourite student after all."

Ichigo didn't even hesitate, "of course. I'll talk to my Dad about looking after Mai for me on Saturday, but I'll be there."

"Excellent!" Rukia cheered, before rummaging through her pockets and chucking a business card at him, "we've ordered some flowers already, the address is on that card. Pick them up before you come!"

"_You _ordered them, why do I have to be your errand boy?"

Rukia had already pushed herself up from her seat and was making her way to the door, "the store is nearest to your home, stop complaining and I'll see you on Saturday."

And with that, she was gone.

Ichigo sighed and rubbed his jaw tiredly. He had a lot of work to finish that day and what with already running late because of traffic and now Rukia's annoying interruption, he was running extremely behind schedule.

"Damn midget," he grumbled as he stood up and left her office.

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.

.

Orihime crossed her arms around her chest, trying to protect herself from the mild wind that was lazily whipping itself around her body. Just as she was beginning to regret her decision to leave the shop a bit earlier than usual, the door she was watching was flung open and small children began filing out.

As usual, Kuromi was first out of the door.

Her face split into a large grin at the sight of her son and she waved him over to her corner of the playground. To her surprise, instead of barrelling over to her at a hundred miles per hour like usual, he walked slowly.

Frowning, she stood on her tiptoes to get a better look at him. Once the reason for his slower pace became obvious, she couldn't help but squeak out in delight. He was dragging a small girl behind him. Now, the girl didn't look to particularly pleased at being dragged away against her will by Kuromi, but judging by the grin on his own face, he didn't care.

She was a cute girl, Orihime mused, as she waited patiently for them to get to her. Her long black hair was pulled into a rather messy plaited ponytail and her jacket buttons had been done up wrong.

"Mummy!" Kuromi yelped, letting go of the poor girls hand to hug his mothers waist as usual.

"Hello Kuromi," Orihime laughed, stroking his head lightly, "are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

"Oh, yeah," Kuromi said, almost as if he had forgotten her standing awkwardly behind them. He pulled away from Orihime and gestured wildly to her, "Mummy, this is Mai. Mai this is my Mummy!"

Orihime smiled warmly at Mai and crouched down onto her haunches so they were at the same level.

"It's nice to meet you Mai-chan."

Mai swallowed thickly as she watched Kuromi's mother bend down and extend her hand. She licked her lips and slowly stuck out her own hand.

"Hello," she whispered quietly, her face reddening as the woman clasped her larger hand over her own smaller one and shook it up and down gently.

"Isn't she coooooooool?" Kuromi laughed happily after they had let go of their hands and Orihime had righted herself once more, "she's my best friend Mummy!"

Orihime had to force herself not to laugh out loud as she watched Mai's expression go from complete shyness to utter horror at Kuromi's sudden exclamation that they were best friends.

"She doesn't talk much," Kuromi continued, expertly ignoring the look on Mai's face, "but she's cool. Can she come round? I forgot my Chappy comics and I _promised _Mai I'd let her look at them!"

Whilst Orihime was used to Kuromi speaking relatively fast and changing topics every few seconds, she could tell by the look on Mai's face that she wasn't just yet. She looked so overwhelmed staring at Kuromi, that Orihime couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her.

Kuromi was a handful after all.

Gently, Orihime placed a hand on Kuromi's head to silence him, "Mai-chan is more than welcome to come over, but, I think that's something she has to talk about with her parents first, ok?"

Kuromi blew a raspberry in frustration but reluctantly nodded. Then his eyes lit up and he turned to Mai and prodded her excitedly,

"Go on then Mai!"

She frowned.

"Mummy said you can come if you ask your parents!"

Orihime sighed. Kuromi only seemed to ever hear exactly what he wanted to hear, "Kuro-"

"Mai?"

A deep voice interrupted the little scolding she was about to give her son. Orihime turned around to find a tall man with bright orange hair approaching them, a concerned frown on his face.

"Daddy," Mai sighed in relief as her father approached. As soon as he reached them she wrapped her arms around his thighs and he quickly lifted her up into his arms.

"Is everything ok here?" he asked, the frown still on his face.

Orihime blushed, wondering what conclusions he had come to. She knew she would have been worried if she had found Kuromi speaking to a supposed strange woman one day after school.

"You're Mai's Dad?" Kuromi asked, staring up at the man with wide eyes, "woah, your hair's awesome."

Orihime found herself nodding in agreement with her son. Whilst their hair colour was a, still fairly unusual, auburn, his bright orange was wholly unique. She'd never seen anything like it before.

"Uh, thanks?" the man said uncertainly, as he looked from Kuromi to Orihime, "was something wrong with Mai?"

"Hm? Oh! Oh no," Orihime laughed and shook her head, "I'm Kuromi's mother, Orihime Inoue. Nice to meet you," she stuck out her hand just as she had done with Mai earlier.

The man shifted Mai in his arms quickly so he could hold her with just one arm and stuck the other one out to grasp Orihime's hand,

"Ichigo Kurosaki, nice to meet you too."

"Ich-ii-go," Kuromi muttered rather loudly, "Ich-ii-go, hey! That's like a strawberry, right? Do you like strawberries? I do!"

"Kuromi! Don't be rude!" Orihime gasped, blushing at the way he had chosen to mock Ichigo's name, "apologise to Kurosaki-san!"

Ichigo, however, waved his free hand in the air dismissively, "it's fine, I'm used to it," he added rolling his eyes, "and I'm going to guess you're the kid Mai was telling me about yesterday?"

Kuromi nodded and grinned proudly, "YUP! We're best friends!"

Mai rolled her eyes at this admission, but said nothing, content to sit in her fathers warm embrace.

To her surprise, instead of grimacing at his daughter choosing to befriend such a loud and boisterous boy, Orihime watched as Ichigo's face split into a small smile.

"I'm glad."

Kuromi whooped in delight, happy that his newfound best friends father seemed to approve him, which in turn brought a warm smile to Orihime's face.

"Mummy said Mai can come over if she asks you," Kuromi told Ichigo, "soooo can she?"

"If your mother doesn't have a problem with it and Mai wants to come, then I'm sure we can arrange something."

"Today?"

"Not today, Mai already has something planned with her grandparents, another time maybe."

Kuromi sighed in defeat, "ok, but next time for sure! Ok Mai?"

Mai hesitated before nodding.

Orihime glanced at the watch on her wrist and gasped, she hadn't realised they'd spent so much time talking. The playground was mostly empty.

"Well, it was lovely to meet you both," she said earnestly, "but I'm afraid we really have to get going."

Ichigo nodded in agreement.

"Maybe…maybe we could organise a play date for them on weekend?" Orihime asked feeling rather shy all of a sudden. She'd never done this before. Kuromi had never made friends with anyone and asked to bring them home and she wondered if she was going about it in the wrong way. Perhaps she'd asked too soon?

To her relief, Ichigo also seemed to be out of his comfort zone and she got the distinct impression that this was all new to him as well. Quickly, she glanced at his hand. A simple silver wedding band lay on the ring finger and she couldn't help but giggle to herself. Clearly his wife was the one who usually sorted all these sort of things out for Mai. Ichigo looked so out of place in the playground in his crisp suit and funny coloured hair after all.

"Yeah, I think they'd enjoy that," Ichigo replied, shifting Mai into his arm other, "it was nice to meet you both, Inoue-san. Kuromi-kun," he nodded to them both before turning around to walk to the exit nearest his car.

Mai peeked her head out from behind in Ichigo's shoulder.

"Bye Mai!" Kuromi yelled, waving wildly as Orihime took his other hand and turned towards the other exit in the playground, "see you tomorrow! I promise I won't forget my Chappy stuff!"

"Bye bye," Mai whispered, wiggling her fingers from behind her father's back.

As they made their way to the car, Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle.

"You know, you should probably tell him you don't like Chappy."

Mai shrugged, "it makes him happy," she mumbled quietly deciding that it didn't bother her really.

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**A/N: **Woohoo! Thank you for everyone that's reviewed so far, you're all fabulous people! Please keep on reviewing xoxo


	3. Chapter 3

**A Shove in the Right Direction**

**Summary: **Because sometimes, the adults really don't know what's best for them.

**3; **Coincidence

"There's my Princess!" Isshin roared theatrically, throwing the door open and plucking Mai from the doorstep in one fluid motion. He squeezed her tightly, causing Ichigo to sigh and roll his eyes as he stepped into Isshin's home.

"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me!" Isshin wailed, still crushing Mai into his chest, "I haven't seen you in what feels like _centuries_!"

"You saw her two days ago," Ichigo deadpanned, causing Mai to giggle a little.

She loved her Grandpa.

"Well that's simply not good enough," Isshin huffed, "now you're back in Karakura, I expect to see my grandbaby at least eight times a week!"

Ichigo's eye twitched, but he said nothing hoping that Isshin would calm down shortly.

"Come on then," Isshin sung, "I have a snack waiting for you," he waggled his eyes mysteriously and then dashed into the kitchen making pony noises.

Ichigo's eye twitched again. Every time he visited his father with Mai, he told himself _never again_. The man went overboard around his granddaughter and it was enough to drive Ichigo insane. He used to joke that the whole reason they moved away from Karakura a few years ago was to keep away from him.

Still sighing, Ichigo sloped into the kitchen after them.

"What the hell old man?" he growled upon noticing Mai seated around the table with a very large bowl of ice-cream in front of her. Isshin feigned innocence as he squirted some chocolate sauce on top of the ice-cream and handed Mai a spoon. Mai tucked in almost immediately, humming in pleasure.

"I'm just giving her a snack, I'm sure she's hungry after such a tiring day at school."

"Ice-cream is _not _a proper snack. I've told you this before."

"But Daddy always used to give you ice-cream after school!"

"_No you didn't damn it!" _

"Oh? Well...Daddy _meant _to give you ice-cream after school!"

Deciding that enough was enough, Ichigo groaned loudly before lunging across the room and tackling Isshin to the ground.

Mai watched on in amusement as her father and grandfather pummelled each other. She had long since stopped worrying if they would actually hurt each other. Instead she carried on scooping ice-cream into her mouth.

"Go granpa," she mumbled through mouthfuls, deciding that this time, she was on Isshin's side.

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.

.

"Watcha doing?"

"Work."

"Can I help?"

"No."

"Whyyyyy?"

"_Orihime_," Tsubaki hissed, glaring at Kuromi who was currently seated opposite from himself at their table in the back room, "can you please occupy your brat!"

Orihime cut her eyes at Tsubaki, "stop calling him that please."

"When he stops fitting the definition, I will stop calling him it."

Orihime sighed and shook her head, knowing that Tsubaki didn't mean his comments maliciously. Either way, Kuromi was plenty used to Tsubaki's spiteful tongue as he simply laughed.

"Pleeease Tsubaki-kun, mummy's lets me help her!"

"Well go help her then, and leave me in peace!"

Lily roared with laughter before beckoning Kuromi over. She was working on a bright display for a wedding. "Come over here Kuromi, Tsubaki's being a jerk as usual."

Laughing, Kuromi spat his tongue out at Tsubaki before hopping off his seat and making his way to the corner of the room Lily was sat in.

"Ok kid, I need you to twist the pink lillies like this," she lifted up a lily with a carefully twisted stem and showed it to him, "think you can do that?"

"Aye, aye captain!" he mocked saluted before grabbing a bunch of lillies and settling himself on the floor to get to work.

Orihime smiled softly as she watched him carefully twist the stems. She was always amazed at how quickly he had taken to the art of flower arranging. His attempts at creating full bouqets were still fairly messy, but he was very good at doing the little finishing touches that added to make a bouqet pop in that special way.

Part of her worried she was doing somethin wrong.

She had always grown up thinking that boys Kuromi's age absolutely had to be obsessed with football or wrestling, whilst her son seemed to be content with flower arranging and Chappy.

Thankfully, that part wasn't a very big part of her. If Kuromi was happy than so was she.

They worked in silence for a while longer, the only interuption being the sound of the shop door being pushed open. Orihime had dashed out to the front to serve the customer and had come wandering back in not even ten minutes late with a fresh order form tucked under the shoulders.

Lily whistled lowly as Orihime tucked the order form under the "To-Do" pile, "we're getting busy," she commented, nervously eyeing the ever-growing pile.

"Mhm," Orihime agreed, "Spring months are popular for weddings and christenings, we'll probably be swamped for a while."

"We have the Shihoin Gala in a few months as well," Tsubaki put in shuddering slightly.

Like the Kuchiki's the Shihoin Family were also fairly regular customers of Shun Shun Rikka, and they'd provided the floral decorations for their yearly gala for the past three years.

"No need to worry about that," Orihime said quickly, sensing the morale of her team was quickly deteriorating, "Baigon and Hinagiku will be back from their holiday leave next week and I do you remember Shun'o?"

Kuromi gasped happily, remembering the young teen who had done a few weeks work experience at Shun Shun Rikka the previous summer. They had gotten along extremely well and Kuromi had been sad when she left to return back to school.

"Shun-Shun was awesome!" he whooped appreciatively, "is she coming back mummy?"

Orihime nodded, "she emailed me a few days ago telling me she's finishing school this year and would like to work full time. So she'll be back in time for the Shihoin Gala. We'll be fine guys!"

Tsubaki sniggered as he watched Kuromi whoop with joy at the prospect of seeing Shun'o again, "oh yeah," he said snidely, "I forgot about your little crush on Shun'o."

Kuromi's face reddened as he shook his head wildly, "I did not! Girls are full of cooties!"

"Oh!" Lily gasped, pretending to look hurt.

Kuromi just waved a complacent hand, "not you Lily-chan. Or Mummy, or Ayame-chan. You're _ladies_. Girls are different," he wrinkled his nose in disgust, "yucky."

Orihime raised a delicate eyebrow, "even Mai-chan?"

"Who's Mai-chan?"

"Of course not Mai!" Kuromi shrieked, as if the thought was horrendous to him, "Mai's...special."

Orihime's smiled widened.

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.

.

Mai hummed to herself as she brought the paintbrush down on her work, completing the finishing touches on her masterpiece.

She pushed back onto her haunches and stared critically at her picture. Isshin watched in amusement at her. She looked ridiculously cute with her tongue stuck out slightly with furrowed brows. Her hair had fallen free of the loose ponytail Ichigo had forced it into earlier that morning and now flowed free down her back. Her uniform was also marked with patches of colourful paint and he hoped Ichigo wouldn't be _too _annoyed about that.

"Done," she announced suddenly, lifting up her painting and showing it to him. She stared at him expectantly as she patiently waited for his opinion.

Isshin nodded appreciatively as he surveyed it. She had painted a bright blue sky with dark green grass and a smiling orange sun in the corner. In the middle of the page were four stick figures. One was obviously her, a short skirted stick figure with flowing black hair. Stood next to her was a figure that the obviously Ichigo. A tall stick figure with fiery orange hair and a scowl on his face. He frowned slightly as he tried to figure out who the other two people were supposed to be.

His first guess would have been to say her mother, but Senna had short dark purple, bordering on black hair and the woman in the painting had long flowing dark orange hair. She had painted a beaming smile on the mystery womans face. Next to the woman was a small stick boy with orange hair, not as bright as Ichigo's but the orange hint was very noticeable. She had given the boy an impossibly wide grin.

"Who're these two, hm?" he asked, pointing at the mystery people.

"That's Kuromi-kun," she pointed at the stick boy, "and his mummy. Daddy said I can have a playdate with him soon."

"And who is Kuromi-kun?" he had never heard of him before.

She paused, not knowing how to answer the questions. Kuromi had stated that they were best friends, but she wasn't sure she was comfortable with the admission just yet.

"He's...my nicest friend," she settled on, deciding it was a truthful statement.

Isshin smiled. Like Ichigo, he had been worried about Mai settlign in at school. She had always been a fairly quiet child, but since the accident had reverted into herself much more. It was heartbreaking to watch, especially when Isshin knew first hand just how bubbly Mai could be. The thought of her starting a new school without nobody she knew around her to support her if she felt overwhelmed by anything worried him deeply, and so he was glad to hear that she appeared to be settling in well.

"Come on," he said loudly, standing up and extending a hand to help Mai up, "want some more ice-cream?"

She nodded wildly, her eyes lighting up almost immediately.

Isshin roared with laughter, "just don't tell your Daddy, ok? His punches are getting harder, granddaddy might not be able to keep up with him anymore!"

She placed her forefinger to her lips and made a, "ssh" sound, causing Isshin to laugh even louder.

"That's my girl."

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.

.

Saturday rolled around far too slowly for Ichigo's likings. He relished his weekends. Spending quality time with Mai was quite possibly his favourite thing to do. Most Saturday's he would awake to find Mai curled up by his side and the sight would always leave him feeling strangely warm in his stomach.

Much to his annoyance, this particular Saturday wasn't going to be one of those coveted days with just Mai for company.

He yawned as he reversed out of his father's drive and waved to Mai who was currently nestled sleepily in Isshin's arms.

"I'll be back for her at about 5," he called through the open window of his car, "_don't _feed her ice-cream again all day!"

"I cannot make any promises," Isshin called back solemnly.

Ichigo groaned to himself, but said no more as he drove down the road. He was sure that Isshin wasn't this aggravating when he was growing up, though he wondered if he only seemed more annoying because he was looking at it through a father's eyes now.

Despite being plucked from Mai's company much quicker than he would have wanted that morning, he was looking forward to the day ahead.

Ukitake had been one of his favourite lecturers at university, and although the circumstances weren't the most happy ones, he was glad to see him again. As well as Ukitake, he was also looking forward to seeing Renji again, though he would never, _ever, ever_, in a million years admit it to the red head.

The two had strucken up an unlikely friendship halfway through their first year of university and it had followed them into their adult years.

Thinking of Renji reminded him of Rukia and he scowled to himself as he thought of the petite woman.

It was all her fault that he was up so early. He still didn't understand why she couldn't get the damn flowers herself, and he supposed he'd never know. Throughout their friendship he had learnt the hard way that Rukia enjoyed making his life miserable. Though she preferred to refer to it as simply, "keeping him on his toes".

He frowned out of the dashboard window as he tried to find the address Rukia had ordered for him to go to collect the flowers. He drove down the highstreet right to the end before the shop emerged in front of him. It was quite a small shop with the words _Shun Shun Rikka _written proudly across the front in blue and in an italic font. Two tiny orange flowers were on either side of the writing. He parked up outside the store and quickly hopped out of the car. The morning was pressing quickly to the afternoon and he didn't need Rukia calling his phone to complain about his lateness.

Again.

He entered the flower shop, the light bell tinkling above his head as she pushed the door open. The shop front was completely empty but he could hear light chatter from behind a closed door at the back. He walked up to the till area and coughed loudly,

"Hello?"

"Just a second!" a soft voice called from the back of the store. He frowned, the voice sounded vaguely familiar but he shrugged it off and took to staring around the store.

It was very quaint. Fresh flower displays stood on little tables in each corner of the room, and he had to admit, they looked very nice. Although he didn't have much experience in flower arranging - for him, as long as they were alive they were good - but he could tell a lot of love and passion went into arranging the bouqets around him.

"Sorry about that," an out of breath voice interrupted his musings and he whirled around to see a person carrying two medium sized vases. Inside each vase were a mixture of bright white and dull yellow flowers, intricately entwined to create a sort of dragon design. His eyebrows shot up as he stared at the display, it looked amazing.

The flowers covered the face of the woman speaking so he waited patiently for her to set them down on the side before he spoke to her.

However, before he got the chance to speak, another, extremely familiar, voice jumped into the mix.

"Hey! It's Mai's Dad!"

Ichigo frowned as Kuromi Inoue clambered up onto the counter and grinned cheesily up at him, "he-ll-oh Kurosaki-san!"

"Hello, Kuromi-kun," Ichigo said uncertainly, wondering why the small boy had just suddenly popped up like that.

The answer to his unspoken question came soon after. The person behind the flower vases brought their head out and smiled warmly at Ichigo.

"Oh! This is a surprise," Orihime said, clearly as shocked as Ichigo was, "good afternoon, Kurosaki-san!"

Ichigo blinked as Orihime's smiling face came into view. In the playground where they had first met, she had been wrapped up in a thick winter jacket to protect her from the biting cold.

Now however, in the warmth of her store, she was dressed in a simple green skirt and a black vest that hugged at her curves. She wore an orange apron with the words _Shun Shun Rikka _emblazoned proudly on the front.

He swallowed thickly, she looked very pretty.

"Uh, good afternoon," he replied after a few seconds when he realised that he'd been staring unabashedly for a while, "I didn't know you worked here."

He immediately felt foolish are speaking the words. He knew next to nothing about her after all.

She giggled lightly, "I own the shop! Welcome to Shun Shun Rikka."

"The greatest flower shop in the whole wide world!" Kuromi added firmly, looking extremely proud, "are you here to buy some flowers Kurosaki-san? HEY! Where's Mai?" he jumped up from his spot on the counter and peered suspiciously behind Ichigo, as if he were expecting Mai to pop up from behind him.

"She's with her grandfather today."

Kuromi pouted, "I haven't seen her in _foreverrrrrr_."

Orihime giggled, shaking her head, "you saw her at school yesterday..."

"Ok, it feels like forever!"

Despite himself, Ichigo couldn't help but laugh at Kuromi's put out tone of voice, "if I'd have known you were here, I would have brought her," he said earnestly, hoping to cheer Kuromi up a little bit.

Kuromi smiled gratefully.

"So, are you here to buy some flowers Kurosaki-san?" Orihime asked politely, leaning on the counter and fixing Ichigo with one of her signature smiles.

He found himself almost blinded by the brilliance of it.

"No, I'm here to pick some up for a friend. Rukia Kuchiki?"

Orihime's mouth dropped open in surprise, "you're friends with Kuchiki-san?" she asked.

Ichigo smirked, he was used to this kind of reaction when people heard he had ties to the Kuchiki family, "yeah. Childhood friends actually."

"That's lovely. Rukia's a very nice woman," Orihime said earnestly before turning around and picking up the two vases she had been carrying before, "these are for you then."

Ichigo's eyes widened as he stared at the dragon-like display, realising they were the ones for Ukitake.

"Who made these?"

She blushed, "I did...Kuromi helped a little."

"Yup!"

Ichigo whistled lowly as he inspected the flowers closer, "it looks amazing. Ukitake will really appreciate it."

Orihime positively beamed at the compliment, "a-are you sure? I was worried I was going overboard?"

"It's perfect. You did a great job."

She smiled shyly and ducked her gaze as she mumbled out an overjoyed, "thank you".

Kuromi watched their exchange carefully, he had never seen his mother react so happily to someone complimenting her designs before. People were _always _complimenting her designs after all.

Oblivious to Kuromi's watchful gaze, Ichigo hoisted the two vases in his arm and gave Orihime a rare, small smile, "thanks for this. He'll really appreciate it."

"It was my pleasure!"

He stood awkwardly for a few seconds before he nodded in her direction, "well, I better go and deliver these before Rukia has a fit. I'll..uh...I guess I'll see you in the playground."

The words sounded horrendously lame as they came out of his mouth.

"Mhm! It was nice seeing you today, and I hope your friend makes a full recovery!"

"Bye Kuromi-kun," Ichigo said as he moved towards the exit.

"Tell Mai I said _heeeeeey_!" he yelled, "oh and can Mai come over next week? Please? Please? _Pleaseeeee?"_

Ichigo shoved the door open with his back and paused, "I'm sure we'll be able to work something out," and with one final nod in Orihime's direction he was gone.

Kuromi cheered and got up on top of the counter, happy that his new found best friend would be visiting his home next week.

Orihime smiled, "what a nice man," she mused.

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**A/N: **Update. A bit late but woohooooo an update! Ummmmm, please review xoxo


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